Weight Training for Runners - Part 1

Getting started in the weight room

Every human motion is muscular. If your "cardio" is your motor, your muscles make up your power train. Stronger muscles transfer greater force to the ground, and reduce the amount of wasted energy. When you watch the unfaltering rhythm of an elite runner, you are watching gifts of genetics and dividends of training. But you are also watching muscles hard at work.

How often have we said admiringly that elite runners "look like

they are hardly touching the ground." The compliment has considerable truth: they are definitely touching the ground for a shorter time than most of us. The shorter the ground contact time, the quicker the next stride happens. Now multiply even a few hundredths of a second per stride by every stride in a 10K!

During each stride, the weight of that elite athlete’s body is supported by muscles that contract instantly to provide a solid platform for the next forward drive. This is muscle strength, pure and simple. The strength allows the twin actions of support and drive to take place almost simultaneously.

The rest of us need more time to absorb the impact of each landing, and to gather ourselves for the next push. We may have the lungs of an elephant, and the mileage of a Greyhound bus, but when our present level of strength can’t handle our "cardio," energy squirts away on each stride. All runners perform much the same muscular actions; stronger muscles perform them quicker.